Análisis de los datos
5. LAS CARACTERÍSTICAS DE LA MUESTRA
This section will report answers to the survey questions seeking to explore the general views (in particular attitudes, understandings and personal commitment) of social work educators and final year students in England and Spain on human rights and social justice and their role in social work education.
General views on human rights and social justice in social work education
Social work educators and final year students in England and Spain were asked, in a grid question, to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with a series of short statements about human rights and/or social justice in social work education. This was Q6 of social work educators’ surveys both in England and Spain, Q8 in social work final year students’ survey in England, and Q7 in social work final year students’ survey in Spain. This grid question included 11 statements. The responses of 8 of these are presented next. Answers to the remaining questions will be discussed in section three (experiences in teaching and learning about human rights and social justice in a social work course) where I believe these fit better.The following tables offer an overview of the responses to these statements of the four surveyed groups. They show the percentage of respondents from each group choosing the different levels of agreement or disagreement with the statements. Percentages on these tables are calculated on the basis of the number of responses to each statement, which nevertheless pretty much correspond with the total number of respondents to each survey as no response to these
statements was very low. After the table, I present a summary of social work educators and final year students’ answers to this grid question
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TABLE 11 SOCIAL WORK EDUCATORS AND FINAL YEAR STUDENTS' GENERAL VIEWS ON HR AND SJ IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION
2.4% 9.8% 87.8% 32.4% 67.6% 1.8% 1.8% 30.4% 66.0% 2.2% 7.6% 1.1% 40.2% 48.9% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
1. There is an important relationship between human rights, social justice, and social work daily practice
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain 2.5% 2.5% 22.5% 72.5% 2.9% 25.7% 71.4% 1.8% 1.8% 53.5% 42.9% 3.2% 13.2% 47.3% 36.3% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
2. There is an important relationship between human rights, social justice, and social work theory
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain 17.1% 82.9% 23.5% 76.5% 1.8% 1.8% 3.5% 42.9% 50.0% 1.1% 1.1% 6.5% 33.7% 57.6% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
3. The explicit teaching of human rights principles should hold a core position in social work education
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain 22.5% 77.5% 12.5% 87.5% 1.8% 3.7% 34.5% 60.0% 2.2% 1.1% 3.3% 38.0% 55.4% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
4. The explicit teaching of social justice principles should hold a core position in social work education
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain
156 Table 11 continued 46.3% 46.3% 4.9% 2.5% 61.8% 38.2% 30.4% 53.5% 12.5% 1.8% 1.8% 45.0% 44.0% 7.7% 3.3% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
5. Human rights and social justice are aspirational, It is unrealistic to expect social workers to achieve these
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain 2.6% 35.9% 61.5% 8.6% 37.1% 54.3% 1.8% 1.8% 12.5% 58.9% 25.0% 1.1% 8.7% 51.1% 39.1% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
6. Extending human rights perspectives into social work education would improve social work practice
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain 2.4% 7.3% 22.0% 46.3% 22.0% 2.8% 14.3% 22.9% 40% 20.0% 1.8% 7.3% 25.5% 43.6% 22% 5.6% 23.3% 45.6% 21.1% 4.4% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
7. Social work students will find opportunities to work for human rights and social justice in their professional careers
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain 14.6% 22.0% 22.0% 34.1% 7.3% 25.7% 25.7% 22.9% 17% 8.6% 10.7% 39.3% 19.6% 23.2% 7% 7.7% 29.6% 24.2% 27.5% 11.0% Strongly Disagree Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Agree
8. Most social work students will find themselves working in contexts that will make it difficult for them to apply
human rights and social justice perspectives in their practice
Educators England Educators Spain Students England Students Spain
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The social work educators in England and Spain unanimously and strongly believed that “there is an important relationship between human rights, social justice, and social work theory and practice” (statements 1 and 2). The majority of social work final year students in both countries shared their educators’ views and agreed with this, too. However, the overall levels of agreement of the students were slightly lower than the educators’ and a small number of the students disagreed or were undecided. 3.6% of the students in England and about 10% of the students in Spain either disagreed or strongly disagreed that “there is an important relationship between human rights, social justice and social work daily practice”. Whilst only the 1.8% of the students in England and 3.2% of the students in Spain disagreed that “there is an important relationship between human rights, social justice and social work theory”, a minority but noticeable 13.2% of the social work students in Spain were undecided about this.
All the social work educators in England and Spain agreed (the high majority strongly agreed) that “the explicit teaching” of both human rights and social justice principles “should hold a core position in social work education” (statements 3 and 4). The majority of the social work final year students in both countries also agreed with this, although their responses were more scattered amongst the two levels of agreement. Besides, for each of these two statements, there was a small number of students (about 7% in each country) who were undecided, disagreed or strongly disagreed.
The vast majority of the social work educators and final year students in both countries disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that “human rights and social justice are aspirational, it is unrealistic to expect social workers to achieve these” (statement 5). The most optimistic about the role of social workers in achieving human rights and social justice were the social work educators in Spain, followed by the social work educators in England, and then by the two groups of students, which views on this statement were rather similar overall. A small number of the social work educators in England and of the students in both countries were undecided (7.7% of students in Spain, 12% of students in England), agreed (4.9% of educators in England, 3.3% of students in Spain, 1.8% of students in England) or strongly agreed (2.5% of educators in England, 1.8% of students in England) with this statement.
None of the social work educators in England or Spain disagreed with the statement that “extending human rights perspectives into social work education would improve social work practice” (statement 6), and the majority of them strongly agreed with it. Similarly, most of the students in both countries either agreed or strongly agreed with this (83.9 %, n=47 in England;
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90.2%, n=83). Virtually all the remaining students were undecided and just one (Spain) or two (England) students disagreed or strongly disagreed.
The social work educators in England and Spain, as well as the social work students in England responded in a very similar manner to the statement that “social work students will find
opportunities to work for human rights and social justice in their professional careers” (statement 7). About 65% of them agreed or strongly agreed with this, around 25 % were undecided and the remaining 10% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. However, the social work students in Spain had a worse prospect about the future opportunities for social work students to work for human rights and social justice in their careers. Only 25.5% (n=23) agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, 45.6% (n=41) were undecided, and 28.9% (n=26) disagreed or strongly disagreed with it.
The responses to the statement that “most social work students will find themselves working in contexts that will make it difficult for them to apply human rights and social justice perspectives in their practice” (statement 8) varied significantly amongst the four surveyed groups. Half of the students in England disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, about 30% agreed or strongly agreed and 19.6 % were undecided. The social work educators in England had a less positive view of the social work contexts of practice in what regards the possibilities to apply human rights and social justice principles. Only 36.6 % disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, 22% were undecided and 41.4% agreed or strongly agreed with it. Conversely, half of the social work educators in Spain did not see the social work context of practice as limiting of the possibilities to apply human rights and social justice principles, as about 52% of them disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement. Nevertheless, about 25% of them did agree or strongly agree with it, and 23% were undecided. The views of the social work students in Spain were scattered amongst the different levels of agreement with the stamen in a normal-like distribution of responses.
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Views on most relevant issues for social work regarding human rights and
social justice
The second question in this section of the surveys was an open-ended question which asked respondents what they thought were the most relevant issues for social work regarding human rights and social justice in different contexts. This was Q7 in the social work educators’ surveys in England and Spain, Q9 in the social work student’ survey in England and Q8 in the social work students’ survey in Spain.
The tables in next pages show the responses of the four surveyed groups. The themes mentioned by the respondents are organised under thematic labels. For each label, the number of
respondents highlighting an issue related to the theme is given. Some respondents raised several issues, and a small number of the issues highlighted by respondents needed to be accounted into more than one category.
As a means of summarising the main findings from this survey question, I next comment on the three most relevant topics for human rights and social justice identified by the four groups of respondents in the international and national contexts.
International context
For the social work educators in England, the most relevant issues for social work regarding human rights and social justice in the international context were related to 1) discrimination (in general, racism, sexism and based on sexual orientation); 2) human trafficking/slavery and 3) poverty. For the social work educators in Spain the most relevant issues were related to 1) inequality and 2) migrations, followed by issues related to poverty, discrimination (gender and minorities) and violence (state, domestic, against women).
For the final year social work students in England issues related to 1) migrations, 2) war and 3) discrimination (general, racism, sexism) were the most relevant. And for the social work final year students in Spain issues of 1) (in)equality were the most important, followed by 2) migrations/ borders and by 3) concerns about the applicability of universal human rights.
National contexts of the UK and Spain
Considering the context of the UK, the most important human rights and social justice issues for social work according to the social work educators in England were related to 1) poverty, 2) welfare rights/politics, and 3) discrimination/diversity (general, racism, sexism, based on sexual orientation). The social work final year students in England highlighted issues related to 1) the
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welfare system/ austerity, 2) (in) equality, and 3) social work workplace conditions (bureaucracy, budgets, resources, CPD, stress).
Regarding the national context of Spain, the issues pointed out by the social work educators in this country revolved around 1) inequality, 2) immigration and 3) social exclusion and the welfare system/austerity. On their part, the social work final year students in Spain highlighted the importance of issues related to 1) (in)equality, 2) welfare rights /politics, and 3) unemployment and housing.
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TABLE 12 VIEWS ON RELEVANT ISSUES RE HR AND SJ INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT
What do you think are the most relevant issues for social work regarding human rights and social justice in the international context?
SW EDUCATORS ENGLAND 37 valid answers
SW EDUCATORS SPAIN 31 valid answers 1. Discrimination (general, racism, sexism, based
on sexual orientation) (n=15) 2. Human trafficking/slavery (n=9) 3. Poverty (n=8)
4. Asylum seekers/refugees (n=7) 5. Violence against women (n=5) 6. Globalisation (n=5)
7. Welfare rights (n=5)
8. Exploitation/ employment rights (n=4) 9. Migration (n=4)
10. Ageing populations (n=3) 11. War (n=3)
12. Homelessness (n=2) 13. Politics (n=2)
14. International perspective in social work (n=2) Other (n=1): Advocacy, critique UN agenda, Relationship HR-Ethics, legal aspects of HR, exclusion, anti-colonialism, marketization, power and control, domestic abuse, child abuse, environmental concerns, resources, freedom of though and religion, inequality
1. Inequality (n=10) 2. Migrations (n=9) 3. Poverty (n=5)
4. Discrimination (gender, minorities) (n=5) 5. Violence (state, domestic, against women)
(n=5)
6. Welfare rights (n=3)
7. Neoliberal globalisation (n=3)
8. International legislation and justice (n=3) 9. International development (n=2) 10. Environmental concerns (n=2)
11. Social work ethics, methods or theory (n=2)
Other (n=1): Promotion of HR, influence on international politics, participation in society, dignified treatment of people, third world, colonialism, refugees.
SW FINAL YEAR STUDENTS ENGLAND 37 valid answers
SW FINAL YEAR STUDENTS SPAIN 64 valid answers
1. Migrations (n=8) 2. War (n=7)
3. Discrimination (general, racism, sexism) (n=6) 4. Violence against women (FGM, sexual violence)
(n=5) 5. Human trafficking/slavery (n=5) 6. Cultural differences (n=5) 7. Poverty (n=4) 8. Asylum seekers/refugees (n=4) 9. Politics, governments (n=4) 10. Globalisation (n=3) 11. Welfare rights (n=3)
12. Exploitation/ employment rights (n=2)
Other (n=1): inequality, awareness of international standards, finance and knowledge, getting the balance right, environmental issues, natural disasters, international law, social work to join the struggles, social workers’ awareness of international issues.
1. (In)equality (n=16) 2. Migrations/borders (n=11)
3. Effective application of universal HR (n=9) 4. Exploitation (n=7)
5. Poverty (n=6)
6. Human trafficking (n=6)
7. Discrimination (racism, sexism) (n=6) 8. War (n=5)
9. Politics/ governments/ authoritarian regimes (n=5) 10. Dignity of all (n=3) 11. Welfare rights (n=3) 12. Cultural awareness/integration (n=2) 13. Globalisation (n=2) 14. Ethical commitment (n=2)
Other (n=1): international development, child abuse, prostitution, health, violent acts, lack of awareness of global issues.
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TABLE 13 VIEWS ON RELEVANT ISSUES RE HR AND SJ NATIONAL CONTEXTS
What do you think are the most relevant issues for social work regarding human rights and social justice in the context of the UK/ Spain?
SW EDUCATORS ENGLAND 37 valid answers SW EDUCATORS SPAIN 31 valid answers 1. Poverty (n=12) 2. Welfare rights/politics (n=12)
3. Discrimination /diversity (general, racism, sexism, based on sexual orientation) (n=8) 4. Inequality (n=4) 5. Human trafficking/slavery (n=3) 6. Asylum seekers/refugees (n=3) 7. HR legislation (n=3) 8. Child abuse (n=2) 9. Mental capacity (n=2)
10. Violence against women (n=2) 11. Standard practice in social work (n=2) 12. Social exclusion (n=2)
Other (n=1): migration, cultural differences, Islamophobia, people living with complex conditions, access to advocacy, service user involvement, radical practice, housing, privacy, family life, fair trial, promoting good relations, transient communities, employers’ practices, domestic abuse, unemployment, older people support needs.
1. Inequality (n=8) 2. Immigration (n=7) 3. Social exclusion (n=6)
4. (Crisis) of welfare/ austerity (n=6) 5. Impoverishment of the population (n=5) 6. Rights of children and vulnerable adults (n=4) 7. Public system of social services (n=3)
8. Housing (n=3)
9. (Un)employment (n=3) 10. violence against women (n=2) 11. Discrimination (gender, race) (n=2)
Other (n=1): freedom of speech, neoliberalism, education, social needs, sexual exploitation, dignified treatment of people.
SW FINAL YEAR STUDENTS ENGLAND 40 valid answers
SW FINAL YEAR STUDENTS SPAIN 65 valid answers
1. Welfare system/ austerity (n=9) 2. (In)equality (n=7)
3. Workplace conditions (bureaucracy, budgets, resources, CPD, stress) (n=6)
4. Counter discourses (victimisation of service users, marginalisation of HR&SJ) (n=5) 5. Child protection (n=4)
6. Mental health (n=4)
7. Discrimination (general, racism) (n=4) 8. Poverty (n=3)
9. Cultural differences (n=3) 10. Human trafficking (n=2) 11. Access to legal aid (n=2) 12. Use of professional power (n=2) 13. More knowledge and awareness (n=2) 14. HR law (n=2)
Other (n=1): migration, asylum seekers, FGM, private lives and freedoms, rights of absent fathers, empowerment and protection.
1. (In)equality (n=24)
2. Welfare rights (general)/ politics (n=15) 3. (Un)employment (n=10)
4. Housing (n=10)
5. Migration/Borders (Melilla) (n=6) 6. Social exclusion (n=6)
7. Poverty (n=6)
8. Discrimination (sexism, racism) (n=4) 9. Violence against women (n=4) 10. Legislation/justice (n=4) 11. Education (n=4)
12. Individualism, lack of solidarity (n=3) 13. Healthcare (n=2)
14. Bureaucracy in social work (n=2) 15. The crisis (n=2)
16. Effective HR (n=2)
Other (n=1): victimisation, dignity, abuse, ageing population, public security, childhood, torture, disability.
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Commitment to causes explicitly related to human rights or social justice
The third question in this section of the survey asked respondents if they were committed to any particular causes explicitly related to human rights and/or social justice. If they responded yes, they were asked to specify their particular commitments. This was Q8 in the social workeducators’ surveys in England and Spain, Q10 in the social work student’ survey in England and Q9 in the social work students’ survey in Spain.
As next table shows, 62.9% of the social work educators in England and as many as 90 % of the social work educators in Spain responded yes to this question. About 40% of the social work final year students in the two countries did so.
TABLE 14 SOCIAL WORK EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS' COMMITMENT TO HR OR SJ CAUSES, PERCENTAGES
8. Are you committed to any particular causes explicitly related to human rights and/or
social justice? (For example, are you a member or do you support an organisation that focuses on human rights or social justice, do you work/ have you worked in the human rights field, related activist activities, etc.)
n= 41 n=56 n=35 n=92
Educators
England Students England
Educators Spain
Students Spain
Answer Count % Count % Count % Count %
No: 13 37.1% 32 59.3% 3 10.0% 54 60.7% Yes: 22 62.9% 22 40.7% 27 90.0% 35 39.3%
Total 35 100% 54 100% 30 100% 89 100%
No response 6 2 5 3
The following table offers an overview of the kinds of commitments mentioned by the respondents. The majority of the social work educators in England and of the educators and students in Spain who asserted to be committed to causes explicitly related to human rights and/or social justice indicated they were members or supported organisations which promoted human rights or social justice (n=15/26, n=22/30, n=18/36, respectively). However, a majority of the final year students in England referred to their work or placement experiences in a human rights field (n=9/21). In a second place, social work educators in England and Spain referred to
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their work or research experience in a human rights field (n=5/26, n=4/30), while the social work students referred to related volunteering (n=5/21 of the students in England, 15/36 of the students in Spain). The remaining respondents from the four surveyed groups referred to other commitments such as campaigning/activism, political activity or engagement with professional networks.
TABLE 15 SOCIAL WORK EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS' COMMITMENT TO HR OR SJ CAUSES, OPEN ANSWERS
Are you committed to any particular causes explicitly related to human rights and/or social justice? If yes, please specify.
SW EDUCATORS ENGLAND 26 valid responses
SW EDUCATORS SPAIN 30 valid responses
1. Membership/support of organisations that support HR/SJ (n=15)
2. Work/research experience in HR field (n=5) 3. Social work education with a focus on HR/SJ
(n=3)
4. Professional networks (n=3) (SWAN) 5. Campaigning (n=2)
6. Trade Unions (n=2) 7. Political activity (n=2)
Other (n=1): ‘Anti-Apartheid Movement (during 1970s/1980s)’, non-specified commitments related to: ‘asylum seekers’, ‘welfare rights’, ‘legal aid reductions’, ‘criminalisation of homelessness people in a number of countries’, ‘rights of people with mental health problems’ (…).
1. Membership/support of organisations that support HR/SJ (n=22)
2. Work/research experience in HR field (n=4) 3. Campaigning/ activism (n=2)
4. Professional networks (n=2)
Other (n=1): non-specified commitments related to: ‘violence against women’, ‘fighting social exclusion’, ‘child abuse’, ‘homeless people, immigration, IHV’, ‘environment and women’.
SW FINAL YEAR STUDENTS ENGLAND 21 valid responses
SW FINAL YEAR STUDENTS SPAIN 36 valid responses
1. Work/placement experience in HR field (n=9) 2. Volunteering (n=5)
3. Membership/support of organisations that support HR/SJ (n=4)
4. Campaigning/ activism (n=4) 5. Trade Unions (n=2)
6. Professional networks (n=2) (SWAN)
1. Membership/support of organisations that support HR/SJ (n=18)
2. Volunteering (n=15)
3. Campaigning/ activism (n=2)
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